The woke Doctor Who reboot led by Ncuti Gatwa and Russel T Davies has lost over 2 million viewers, according to the UK overnight ratings system, as the show continues its nosedive from the Christmas Special and the three 60th Anniversary specials that aired in 2023, as well as the downfall of the Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker era.
Doctor Who Series 14 debuted the first two episodes on Saturday, May 11, with the first episode, “Space Babies,” bringing in 2.6 million viewers.
However, 200K of the fans didn’t stick around for the second episode, “The Devil’s Chord,” as only 2.4 million viewers tuned in.
The numbers are significantly down from the 2023 Christmas Special – already the lowest rated Doctor Who Christmas Special – of 4.73 million viewers.
The numbers are also down a lot from the first 2023 special featuring the return of David Tennant that drew in 5.08 million viewers, with the three specials the lowest rated of Tennant’s career.
What about BBC iPlayer?
It is worth mentioning that in the UK, Doctor Who premiered at midnight on the BBC iPlayer streaming service which is not factored in to the above numbers, so that could account for some of the drop.
However, according to a report from July 2023, BBC iPlayer makes up for only 15% of viewing in the UK and doesn’t does not seem to be growing significantly, so regardless, the above numbers are still really low.
Also, again, we see a drop of 200K viewers from the first to the second episode, so it’s not like those 200k fans turned on BBC iPlayer to watch the second episode instead of simply watching the same channel they have been watching on the telly.
What about Disney+?
The episodes also aired on the Disney+ streaming service, so we will have to wait and see if Disney has a big announcement about the viewership success this week, but as of Monday, they haven’t.
Disney didn’t announce anything for the 2023 Christmas Special and the three specials, so with these numbers lower, it seems likely less people watched Doctor Who on Disney+ as well.
It’s also known the 2023 episodes didn’t make either the Nielsen ratings charts or the Samba TV charts, so again, with these 2024 numbers even lower, it seems unlikely Doctor Who will make those charts. (Disney is also an investor in Samba TV who didn’t report the 2023 numbers like they used to for various shows, but not Doctor Who on Disney+).
Ncuti Gatwa tells fans to not watch Doctor Who
The drop in ratings follows Ncuti Gatwa telling fans not to watch the show.
“I feel like anyone that has a problem with someone who’s not a straight white man playing this character, you’re not really, truly a fan of the show. You’ve not been watching! Because the show is about regeneration, and the Doctor is an alien — why would they only choose to be this sort of person?” he told Variety. “Don’t watch. Turn off the TV. Go and touch grass, please, for God’s sake.”
Doctor Who ratings:
2023:
Special 1: 5.08M
Special 2: 4.83m
Special 3: 4.62m
Christmas: 4.73m
2024:
Episode 1: 2.6m
Episode 2: 2.4m
